


Face my Fear

by constellate



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-12 19:43:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7946713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constellate/pseuds/constellate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He turned back to Andrew. "I am Persephone," he said, "and I have come here to make a deal."</p><p>Andrew, the cold, unforgiving Lord Hades, has only ever wanted to protect his family and do his job of ruling the underworld. Neil is on the run from his family. Casting aside his old name, he takes a new identity as Persephone and runs to the only person he can think to protect him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know that Persephone essentially means 'to destroy', or 'murder?' yeah. that's relevant ;)  
> Also, 'god' and 'Goddess' aren't used as terms of gender in this because i'm lazy, sooo...

There was a boy standing in the courtyard. A living, breathing boy.

"Why is he here?" Nicky mumbled from the tree he was hiding behind. Andrew did not know why there was a boy standing in his courtyard, but as king of the underworld it was his job to find out. Leaving Nicky, Kevin and Aaron to hide behind their trees, he strode on towards the... the whatever he was.

The boy turned around, and Andrew's step faltered. That was no mere mortal boy. That was a Goddess.

He had blood red hair and eyes the colour of ice, but his skin was warm, lighter than Nicky's but far darker than Andrew's. Not that it was hard, Andrew's skin was as white as the bones beneath it. 

The Goddess blinked at Andrew, tilting his head to the side. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Andrew snarled, "Who the fuck are you? You realise that this is private property, right?"

He was met with a wry smile "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise you had to have an invitation to go to hell." The Goddess raised one perfect eyebrow. Andrew wanted to pluck that eyebrow one hair at a time, just to watch him squirm.

There was movement in the corner of Andrew's eye. Nicky, Aaron and Kevin were creeping ever closer, probably eager to get a look at this new face. They did not have many visitors, so this Goddess was a novelty.

"I am Hades, and this," he gestured to the palace behind him, and to the surrounding grounds, "is my property. If you want to go to the rest of the Underworld, the gate is right there." He pointed to the wrought iron gate that stood imposingly at the end of the courtyard. The Goddess did not turn to look at the gate. Instead he continued watching Andrew. Andrew stared back. His eyes, he decided, were not in fact ice, but instead glass. Endless layers of warped and distorted glass, jagged at the edges and smooth at the center.

"Hello, Hades." He murmured. Andrew did not reply.

Nicky crept forward and stuck out his hand. "I'm Nyx, but you can call me Nicky," his grin did not waver when the new comer simply looked at him, only withdrew his hand, "You know, it would be nice if we knew who you were?"

The boy blinked. "I... I am-" he tilted his head again and took a deep breath. The trees surrounding them shuddered as he took in air, and when he let his breath out they began to grow leaves and buds. Nicky stared up in wonder as trees that had been barren for as long as Andrew could remember sprung into flower. Delicate petals unfurled and blood red flowers bloomed. They looked delicate, like the boy in front of him, but Andrew had no doubt that both the boy and the flowers meant danger. No one safe ever came to the Underworld - at least not voluntarily.

The Goddess turned back to Andrew. "I am Persephone," he said, "and I have come here to make a deal."


	2. everything's made to be broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew and Neil make the beginnings of a deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Chapter 2! Okay so this is unbeta'ed, all mistakes are my own

Kevin was pacing. He was walking around and around and around the dining table. If he didn't stop soon, Andrew was going to break his knee caps.

He'd be fine, probably. Mortals were tricky creatures, but there was something to be said for living in the underworld. Injuries healed faster, and death was suspended. Andrew flexed his fingers around the delicate ornate knife he held.

He was sitting at the head of the table. Aaron was seated to his right, rapping his fingers against the tables' surface, and Nicky was to his left. 'Persephone' was seated at the far end, facing Andrew. The wooden table top had begun to shake under his fingertips, so now he held his hands in his lap. Not for the first time, Andrew thanked Nicky for forcing him to buy a smaller dining table. He felt safer knowing that the Goddess was within stabbing range.

There was no denying the boys beauty. He looked ethereal, delicate in the way willow branches seemed. Andrew was not an idiot. He knew how sturdy and resilient willow trees could be.

Persephone wasn't wearing the traditional godly garb, but he wasn't dressed as the mortals were either. Instead he was dressed as some sort of hybrid; a short linen chiton popular with the mortals paired with sandals made of living vines that wrapped all the way up his ankles, and from his wrists all the way up his forearms. His hair was the colour of clay. He was pretty, but Andrew hadn't missed how hesitant he had been with his title. Names were private, but titles were supposed to be freely handed out. Names were for family and close friends only, as they had the power to destroy. Which was ironic, as that was exactly what 'Persephone' meant. To destroy.

Aaron didn't care, Kevin was too mortal to notice and Nicky lost all brain cells around attractive guys, but Andrew noticed things. Noticed the way he'd hesitated when asked for his title. Noticed the way his answer seemed like a split-second decision. Noticed the way he took in his surroundings like a mouse looking for an escape route.

Andrew recognised a runner when he saw one.

The name Persephone had clearly been chosen in a fit of emotion, but whether it was emotion over something he had done, or something he had yet to do, still remained to be seen. Andrew wasn't going to let some Goddess enter his palace and destroy his kingdom, no matter how pretty his face was.

"So... Persephone, right?" asked Nicky, trying to rid the room of the awkward silence it had entered into since their arrival. "I'm Nyx, and that's Thanatos," he nodded towards Aaron, "And the guy pacing like there's no tomorrow is Prometheus, but we call him Kevin. Obviously you've already met Hades...." Persephone nodded.

"Speaking of Hades," Nicky continued, "How did you get here anyway? No one, mortal or immortal, can enter Hades' kingdom without coming through the gates...yet the guards swear up and down that they let no one through!" Persephone didn't so much as blink, so Nicky continued, "Seriously, how did you get here?"

Persephone seemed to consider this, tugging at his bangs and tilting his head. "I don't really know," He confessed. "One minute I was in the meadow, the next I was jumping into this huge black abyss."

Aaron scoffed. "You really expect us to believe that you saw a big black hole in the middle of a field and decided to _jump into it?"_

Persephone turned his gaze to Aaron and once again Andrew was forced to reconsider the colour of his eyes. They were the colour of the sky, seconds before a storm. Harsh, cold. Andrew tensed, ready for a fight.

"I was desperate." Persephone said instead. "I knew there was only one place a hole like that could lead and  _I was desperate_." He tugged on his bangs again, and the vines around his wrists curled closer. "I figured, either I could make a deal and stay, or I'd get lost down here. Either way my goal is met." He shrugged as if to emphasise how little he cared, but Andrew saw the weariness in his eyes. I t wasn't fear, which was a surprise, but it was close enough. Good. Outsiders couldn't make it in the underworld without being a little frightened. This boy would learn soon enough.

"You say you were desperate?" He asked, "Why?" Keeping his voice bored was an art form for him now.

It didn't matter that he was intrigued by Persephone, Andrew wouldn't let it show. It had been an age, maybe two, since the curse that kept him permanently happy had been broken, but he still resented emotion.Who else should have the right to dictate how he felt? Who else but him?

He was old as the gems that lined his palace walls, he was as old as humankind itself. 

Every God and Goddess was plagued by a curse. Nicky's was to rule over the night whilst his lover heralds day. Renee's was to battle with anger - constant, righteous anger at all the cruelty and injustice that she came across. She liked to say that she was a bad person trying very hard to be a good person but she once admitted to Andrew that sometimes, in the worst cases, she didn't try very hard.

He wouldn't begrudge her that. He remembered a lot of suffering that went unnoticed and if Renee wants to try to do something about it then all power to her. Because that is his curse - not forced happiness, but remembrance. he remembers everything, from his childhood as a god in a world ruled by Titans, to every inane word Nicky had ever spoken in his presence. He remembers how emotions get you killed, so he keeps his voice bored and his face neutral as he waits for a reply.

Persephone takes a deep breath and, as he does, vines creep from the table legs across to the surface. He ripped them back. The plant thing was becoming something of a tell. Absently, Andrew noticed that Kevin had stopped pacing. Finally.

"I was desperate because I have no where else to go. Those I was born to are dead, and my family..." He looked away but not before Andrew noticed something akin to pain flash through his eyes. "I can't be around them anymore."

Nicky hummed in sympathy, and Aaron looked like he was about to run his mouth so Andrew cut in. "Why not?"

Persephone looked up. His gaze was intense but not aggressive. "I did a bad thing. I hurt someone in a way they can't come back from."

"What makes you think you wont do the same thing here?"

"Everyone here is either dead, immortal or..." His gaze flickered to Kevin before returning to Andrew, "Protected. I'll have no chance to hurt anyone." This was said with such steadfast surety, such brazen confidence, that Andrew almost believed him. Almost, but not quite.

"So what is it you want, then?" asked Kevin, "Money? Power? What could you possibly want?" The mist was thrumming around his, a sure sign of panic. Andrew had been dealing with Kevin's fear one way or another all year, he wasn't about to let it faze him now.

Persephone looked up, straight into Andrew's eyes. "I have power. What I want is protection. I want to be able to live in the underworld and, if anyone tries to take me back, I want you to stop them."

Andrew considered this as the others all stared in shock. Persephone didn't break eye contact. He continued looking at Andrew with a face devoid of emotion. Truly passive - Renee could take pointers.

"And what will you give me in return?" he asked.

Persephone smiled. It was nothing more than a quirk of the lips, really, but it was a smile none the less. "What do you want?"

He considered this. He was the ruler of the underworld, the God of wealth and shadows. He needs for very little and wants for even less. "I don't want anything, but I'll think of a suitable payment."

"So you'll let me stay?" Persephone asks in shock, eyes wide and mouth a perfect 'o'.

He'd had no choice in letting Kevin stay. Zeus, the almighty 'King of the Gods' had declared that Prometheus be banished to spend eternity in the Underworld, with whatever punishment Hades saw fit for the theft of fire. This was, of course, a trick. Zeus knew Andrew did not care in the slightest about the theft of fire. Let the mortals fumble around with whatever little power they thought they had found - they all ended up in the Underworld anyway. If they wanted to speed up the process by burning themself to death, they so be it. They all made their way to his kingdom eventually.

No, Zeus knew that he would give no punishment to Prometheus. The banishment was his version of giving Prometheus a second chance, but also appeasing the rest of Olympus who were _less_ than happy about the theft.

(It was not long after the banishment ceremony to the underworld that Andrew found out that Prometheus' name was Riko, not Kevin. By then it was too late. Kevin would not testify against his brother.)

Unlike with Kevin, he did have a choice in letting "Persephone" stay.

"You can stay," Aaron, Kevin and Nicky stared at him in shock, then stared at each other. Persephone did not look away, his gaze unflinching and open. "On these conditions; One, You tell us your Name-"

"Neil." Persephone cut in. "My name is Neil." It suited him in a different way to Persephone. Not more, not less, just differently.

"Well Neil, remember this: I'm letting you stay as a favour."

Neil's eyes lit up, and the vines around his wrists loosened. A purple and yellow Iris bloomed behind his ear. "I guess I'll just have to owe you one."

This, Andrew thought, could be a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iris's mean hope, in case you were wondering. The title is from Iris by the goo goo dolls. Every chapter from now on is, I think, going to be from a song with a flower in the title/song relating to that chapter.


End file.
